Lane Kiffin lays out case for Nick Saban as greatest coach of all-time

Who Lane Kiffin considers the greatest college coach of all time is no secret. Despite playing at an SEC rival, Kiffin has always been complimentary of Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Even with Saban out of the professional, the high praise continues from his former assistant.

“The Bear Bryants, the legends back then — no offence — they had unlimited scholarships,” Kiffin said via This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von when asked why Saban is the greatest of all-time. “Coach Saban did it in an era where there were a reduced scholarship number.

“He also did it in an era where you’re losing coaches left and right. He lost so many assist coaches and just kept winning. I don’t think anyone will ever be able to do that again. And he couldn’t even do that again with the way it’s going anyway.”

Toward the end of his answer, Kiffin is referring to the NCAA transfer portal. Saban was around for the beginning stages of the portal’s inception and dealt with some turnover at Alabama. But for the good portion of his time in Tuscaloosa, Saban was able to stack five-star talent behind five-star talent.

Von then wondered if Alabama, at one point, just began to recruit itself. With all of the success they had under Saban, seeing him kick back and watch commitments roll in would have been easy. Looking from the outside, it may have seemed as if recruiting was easier.

Except there were no days off, according to Kiffin. Saban was still relentless on the trail, no matter how much success the Crimson Tide found.

“He never changed,” Kiffin said. “That was him. It never changed. He recruited everyday, no matter what. He was nonstop and people say ‘Okay, why did he win so many championships?’ Well, there was the process, there’s the assistant coaches, the discipline.

“But really, the No. 1 thing that mattered the most, he outrecruited people. He got better players. You have better players, you win a lot of games. And they weren’t coming there just to come there. They came there because he recruited really hard.”

Saban continually put together No. 1 recruiting classes in the country. Other power programs attempted to keep up but usually did not have much success. Alabama won six national championships with Saban at the helm. Kiffin, living through one in 2015, has no doubt about who the GOAT is.